Wool-cleaning machine.



' no. 670,643. Patented Mar. 2s, |901.

F. G. SARGENT.-

WOOL CLEANING MACHINE.

(Application led July 12, 1900.)

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No. 670,643. Patented Mar. 26,1901. F. G. SARGENT.

wonL CLEANING mAcHmE.

(Application led July 12, 1900.)

(NO Modgf.)

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FREDERICK G. SARGENT, OF GRANITEVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS..

VWOOL-CLEANING .MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming` part 0f Letters Patent N0. 670,643, datedu March 26, 1901.

Application filed July 12, 1900. Serial No. 23,408. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK G. SARGENT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Graniteville, in the county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Wool-Cleaning Machines, of which the following is a specication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention relates to woolclean ing machines, and is applicable to many types thereof; but it is shown and described herein in connection with atype of machine which is the subjectematter of my patent of May 8, 1900, No. 649,215. chine accordingly will be briefly identified with reference to the accompanyingy drawings, the new features adapted for coperation therewith will be fully explained, and the salient points of the invention will be defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine having the invention-applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a middle vertical longitudinal section thereof. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on the line 3 3 of Fig.,l looking in the direction indicated by the arrows at the ends of such line. Fig. 4: is a view of the right-hand end of the machine in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 lis a view showing a modification.

1 designates the casing of the machine.

A is a feed belt or apron located at or adjacent one end of the said casing land upon which the fiber intended to be operated upon is placed. A pair of feed-rolls is provided at B B for conveying the wool from the feed.

tion of passing the wool gradually from the The old parts of such ma point of introduction Vof the wool by the feed at the smaller end of the cone to its point of discharge at the larger end thereof. The present invention, nevertheless, is equally adapted to other forms of machine in which the Wool is passed gradually from end to end of the picking-cylinder and also to forms in which such longitudinal motion of the wool does not take place.

The teeth of the picking-cylinder (indicated at 3 3) are set on longitudinal bars 44, mounted on the extremities of spiders 5 5 on the shaft 6; but this mode of supporting the teeth is not essential.

Adjacent the periphery of the picking-cylinder I employa comb consisting of a shaft 7,

located beneath'the picking-cylinder, close to the periphery thereof,and provided with teeth 8 V8, .projecting upward int-o proximity to the paths of the picker-teeth. The shaft 7 is mounted in suitable bearings, as at 71 7l, ap

plied tothe ends of the casing of the machine orelsewhere, as preferred. The wool as it moves around withthe teeth of the pickingcylinder. is carried against the teeth S 8,which coact withtheteeth of the picking-cylinder the picking-cylinder the latter teeth strip the wool from the said teeth 8 8. As a convenient means of swinging the comb 7 8 j 9. I have shown in the drawings an arrangement of devices in which the shaft 7 of the comb is connected operatively with the shaft 6 of the picking-cylinder, the connections comprising a crank 9 on the shaft 7, a pitman 10, pivoted to said crank, a crank 11, to which the pit.

man runs, a pulley l2, carrying the said crank, l

and a belt 121, connecting the crank-pulley with a pulley 14 on the shaft 6. I do notlimit myself to the employment of this particular IOO mechanism, however, for eecting the vibration of the comb, nor is it in all cases necessary that the vibration should be eected in a positive manner. In some embodiments of the invention I dispense entirely with such positively-acting mechanism, as in Fig. 5, using only a balance-weight Sl on the rockshaft to maintain the teeth S in their normal position. In this position the comb will accumulate a certain charge of wool, and when it has done so the picker-teeth and the wool rotating thereon will engage with it and by overcoming the effect of the balance-weight will cause the comb to turn into the position in which its teeth are inclined, in the direction of the motion of the picker-teeth. The latter will then act to strip off' the charge of ber on the comb, after which the balanceweight will cause the comb to return to its normal position. From the picking-cylinder the wool is delivered to a burring-cylinder 15, whose periphery contiguous to that of the picking-cylinder moves oppositely thereto.

16 is a rotating guard for the purpose of knocking the burs off the burring-cylinder, while allowing the ber lodged between the bur-teeth to pass on. Such ber is thereafter removed from the burring-cylinder by the rotating brush 17, which has a surface speed greater than that of the cylinder. The brush 17 returns the ber to the picking-cylinder at a point somewhat nearer the discharge end of the latter than that at which the ber left the same.

I-Ieretofore it has been found that considerable ber was knocked oif by the rotating guard 16 along with the burs. For the purpose of preventing this waste a yielding evener or wiper may be arranged to act against the surface of the burring-cylinder to lay the ber more evenly and firmly thereon, while yielding when encountered bya bur or other hard substance and allowing the latter to pass without being pressed in between the burteeth. Therefore when the wool reaches the rotating guard 16 the burs are being carried, as before, above the points of the bur-teeth and are readily removed, while the ber is held more firmly between the said teeth, and hence is less likely than before to be removed. Thus at 18 is shown a plate that is adapted to swing on its pivot 19, it being supported in operative position by the spring 20.

A further feature of my invention relates to the control of the air-currents in the machine.

30 is a fan located in an upward extension 31 of the casing l and discharging air through the outlet 32.

33 and 34 are ports leading from the main space of the machine to the fan. Between the said ports is located a transverse partition 35.

3G is a screen located just above the pickingeylinder'to prevent the escape of wool therefrom. The larger portion of the screen, ly`

ing to the left in Figs. 1 and 2 of the partition 35, is perforated, while the remainder, lying to the right of the said partition, is unperfo rated, From the space below the port 34 and to the right of the partition 35 a conduit 37 connects with the air-space beneath the pickingcylinder. A rack or perforated screen 33 eX- tends just below the picking-cylinder and separates the same from the air-space beneath it. In the conduit 37 is agate 39. In the par tition 35 is a gate 40. In the port 33 isa gate Lll. Now when the gate 40 is closed and the gates 39 and 4:1 are open air will be drawn both from above and from below the pickingcylinder. l/Vhen gate 40 is open and the gate 39 is closed, the gate l11 still relnaining open, air will be drawn only from above the picking-cylinder. If, however, the gate 39 is open and the gates 40 and 41 are closed, air will be drawn only from below the pickingcylinder.

The rack or screen under the picking-cylinder generally is more open than the screen above in order to allow the heavier particles of foreign matter to drop through as they are separated from the wool by the action of the picking-cylinder- It will be perceived that if when treating short staple ber the draft should be taken from below the picking-cylinder a considera ble amount of the short ber would go to waste. Therefore when treating short staple ber the dampers are arranged to cause the most or all of the draft to be taken from the top of the pickingecylinder. For long-bered stock the draft can be taken from the bottom alone. When the stock is very dusty, the draft can be taken from both top and bottom at lonce. Thus with the aid of the airpassages and dampers the draft can be regulated to get the best results with the stock that is being cleaned.

I claim- 1. The combination of a picking-cylinder, and a comb, coperating with said pickingcylinder and mounted adjacent thereto, and arranged to swing to enable the ber detained by said comb to be stripped therefrom by the picking-cylinder, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a picking-cylinder, a pivoted comb adjacent thereto, and means to swing said comb to enable the ber detained thereby to be stripped therefrom by the picking-cylinder, substantially as described.

3. A wool-cleaning machine comprising a picking-cylinder, air-spaces at opposite sides of the same, a discharge-fan, a passage from the fan to one of the said air-spaces, a passage from the fan to the other of the said air-spaces, a gate in each of said passages, a partition separating the two passages from each other and a gate in the said partition, substantially as described.

4t. A wool-cleaning machine comprising a feed at or adjacent one end thereof, a discharge-opening at or adjacent the other end IOO thereof, picking means operating to cause at Will, according as desired, substantially as the material to be carried lengthwise of the described. 1o

machine from the feed to the dischargeiopeu- In testimony whereof I affix my signature ing, airpassages communicating' with oppoin presence of two Witnesses. y

site sides ofthe said picking means, a fan with FREDERICK G. SARGENT. which said air-passages also communicate, Witnesses: and dampers to enable the draft to be .taken n HERBERT V. HILDRETH,

from either or both sides ofthe picking means, ARTHUR E. DAY. 

